Mobile terminal that performs wireless communication and control method for the same

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal with which an intended image forming apparatus can be easily paired is provided. A search unit searches for an image forming apparatus. A display unit displays, as a result of searching by the search unit, a list containing a plurality of image forming apparatuses. A specifying unit specifies, from the plurality of image forming apparatuses, one image forming apparatus to which the mobile terminal is brought closer. A connection unit connects to the image forming apparatus specified by the specifying unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal that performswireless communication and a control method for the mobile terminal.

Description of the Related Art

Regarding image forming apparatuses such as a multifunction peripheraland a printer, more apparatuses have been equipped with a wirelesscommunication function by using a wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registeredtrademark), or the like in recent years. A user performs pairing betweensuch an image forming apparatus and a mobile terminal, based oninformation contained in wireless communication information, forexample, a radio wave strength; and then the user performs, through themobile terminal, various processes such as printing. In general, theradio wave strength in wireless communication has a characteristic thata radio wave attenuates reverse-proportional to a square of acommunication distance; thus, it is possible to estimate a distancebetween the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus from theradio wave strength received by the mobile terminal from the imageforming apparatus.

By using this attenuation characteristic of a radio wave strength, insome cases, an image forming apparatus specifies the closest mobileterminal, based on distances to mobile terminals estimated from radiowave strengths detected by a near-field wireless communication, andperforms pairing with the closest mobile terminal (for example, seeJapanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2013-146048).

Further, when a mobile terminal performs wireless communication with aplurality of image forming apparatuses, there are a plurality of radiowaves in a space. Therefore, in some cases, the mobile terminalreceives, from the image forming apparatuses, not only one but aplurality of radio waves containing, for example, advertisementinformation which contains information from which the image formingapparatuses can be specified. In such a case, the mobile terminaldisplays, on a user interface of the mobile terminal, a list of theplurality of image forming apparatuses corresponding to the receivedradio waves which contain advertisement information (for example,Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2014-165594).

However, in general, the advertisement information contains only alittle information, and the user interface can display only a devicename of each image forming apparatus corresponding to each piece ofadvertisement information. Therefore, it is difficult for the user ofthe mobile terminal to determine which one in the list of device namesdisplayed on the user interface corresponds to the image formingapparatus with which the user really wants to pair the mobile terminal,and it is not easy to pair the mobile terminal with the intended imageforming apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a mobile terminal with which an intendedimage forming apparatus can be easily paired, and a control method forthe mobile terminal.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a mobile terminal comprisinga search unit configured to search for an image forming apparatus, adisplay unit configured to display, as a result of searching by thesearch unit, a list containing a plurality of image forming apparatuses,a specifying unit configured to specify, from the plurality of imageforming apparatuses, one image forming apparatus to which the mobileterminal is brought closer, and a connection unit configured to connectto the image forming apparatus specified by the specifying unit.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily pair themobile terminal with the intended image forming apparatus.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to theattached drawings).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printing systemincluding a mobile terminal and image forming apparatuses according to afirst embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of theimage forming apparatus in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of themobile terminal in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing a relationship between a radio wavestrength and a distance between the mobile terminal and the imageforming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing configurations ofsoftware of the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus of FIG.1 and schematically showing configurations of data managed by thesoftware.

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are flowcharts showing procedures of an imageforming apparatus determination process performed on the mobile terminalof FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a list of device names ofimage forming apparatuses and a message to a user both displayed on anoperation unit of the mobile terminal.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of the list of device namesof image forming apparatuses and a message to a user both displayed onthe operation unit of the mobile terminal.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are a flowchart showing procedures of another imageforming apparatus determination process performed on the mobile terminalof FIG. 3.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing connection confirmation proceduresperformed on the mobile terminal of FIG. 3 for connecting to the imageforming apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a connection confirmationmessage displayed on the operation unit of the mobile terminal beforethe mobile terminal connecting to the image forming apparatus determinedas a connection candidate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described indetail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printing systemincluding a mobile terminal and image forming apparatuses according to afirst embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, the printing system is equipped with imageforming apparatuses 100, 101, and 102, a PC 110, and an access point140. The image forming apparatuses 100, 101, and 102 are connected to anetwork 120 and can communicate with external devices such as the PC 110and a mobile terminal 130 through the network 120. Further, the imageforming apparatuses 100, 101, and 102 are each equipped with a wirelessfunction and send a radio wave for a radio system using a wireless LANor Bluetooth. The PC 110 transmits print data to the image formingapparatuses 100, 101, and 102 through the network 120.

The mobile terminal 130 connects through the access point 140 ordirectly to the image forming apparatuses 100, 101, and 102 andtransmits print data to the image forming apparatuses 100, 101, and 102.Further, the mobile terminal 130 receives a plurality of radio wavessent from the image forming apparatuses 100, 101, and 102 and analyzescontents of the radio waves so as to perform various processes. Theimage forming apparatuses 100, 101, and 102 receive the print data fromthe PC 110 or the mobile terminal 130 and then perform a printingprocess, based on the received print data. In the following, adescription about the image forming apparatus will be given on the imageforming apparatus 100.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of theimage forming apparatus 100 in FIG. 1. It should be noted that althoughthe image forming apparatus 100 is assumed as a multifunction peripheralin the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100 may be aprinter or the like, which is not equipped with a scanner function.

The image forming apparatus 100 is equipped with a CPU 201, ROM 202, RAM203, an HDD 204, and a Wi-Fi communication unit 205. Further, the imageforming apparatus 100 is equipped with a printer I/F 206, a scanner I/F208, an operation unit I/F 210, a network I/F 212, and a BLE (Bluetoothlow energy) communication unit 213. These components are connected toone another through a bus 200. Further, the image forming apparatus 100is equipped with a printer 207, a scanner 209, and an operation unit211, and these components are respectively connected to the bus 200through the printer I/F 206, the scanner I/F 208, and the operation unitI/F 210. The network I/F 212 connects the image forming apparatus 100and the network 120.

The CPU 201 totally controls the image forming apparatus 100 andexecutes various control programs stored in the ROM 202 to performvarious processes for controlling an operation of the image formingapparatus 100. The RAM 203 is a volatile memory and is used as a mainmemory and a work area of the CPU 201 or a temporary storage area forvarious data. The HDD 204 is a non-volatile memory and stores variousdata such as print data or a scan image which are used by the CPU 201.It should be noted that although the CPU 201 alone performs variousprocesses in the image forming apparatus 100, a plurality of CPUs maycooperate to perform various processes. The Wi-Fi communication unit 205performs wireless communication, with the mobile terminal 130, by aradio system using a wireless LAN. The wireless communication performedby the Wi-Fi communication unit 205 is performed directly between theimage forming apparatus 100 and the mobile terminal 130 without passingthrough a relay device such as the access point 140, in some cases.

The BLE communication unit 213 performs wireless communication, with themobile terminal 130, by the radio system using the BLE (hereinafter,referred to as “BLE wireless communication”). Further, the BLEcommunication unit 213 measures strength of a radio wave received fromthe mobile terminal 130 during the BLE wireless communication andestimates a distance to the mobile terminal 130, based on the measuredstrength. The scanner 209 reads a document to generate a scan image. Theprinter 207 performs a printing process on a sheet, based on print datareceived from an external device, the scan image generated by thescanner 209, or the like. The scan image printed by the printer 207 isstored in the HDD 204. The operation unit 211 is equipped with a liquidcrystal display unit having a touch panel function and a keyboard, anddisplays various operation screens. A user inputs instructions andinformation into the image forming apparatus 100 through the operationunit 211. The network I/F 212 is connected to the network 120 andperforms communication with the external devices on the network 120.Further, the network I/F 212 receives print data from an externaldevice, and the printer 207 performs a printing process, based on theprint data.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of themobile terminal 130 in FIG. 1.

The mobile terminal 130 is equipped with a CPU 301, ROM 302, a RAM 303,an HDD 304, a Wi-Fi communication unit 305, an operation unit I/F 306,and a BLE communication unit 308, and these components are connected toone another through a bus 300. Further, the mobile terminal 130 isequipped with an operation unit 307, and the operation unit 307 isconnected to the bus 300 through the operation unit I/F 306.

THE CPU 301 reads out various control programs stored in the ROM 302 andperforms various processes for controlling an operation of the mobileterminal 130. The RAM 303 is a volatile memory and is used as a mainmemory and a work area of the CPU 301 or a temporary storage area forvarious data. The HDD 304 is a non-volatile memory and stores variousdata such as an image. The Wi-Fi communication unit 305 performswireless communication, with the image forming apparatus 100, by a radiosystem using a wireless LAN. The wireless communication performed by theWi-Fi communication unit 305 is performed directly between the mobileterminal 130 and the image forming apparatus 100 without passing througha relay device such as the access point 140, in some cases. The BLEcommunication unit 308 performs BLE wireless communication with theimage forming apparatus 100. Further, the BLE communication unit 308measures strength of the radio wave received, from the image formingapparatus 100, in the BLE wireless communication, and the BLEcommunication unit 308 estimates a distance to the image formingapparatus 100, based on the measured strength. It should be noted thatbecause the strength of the radio wave is reverse-proportional to thedistance as shown in FIG. 4, the distance between the mobile terminal130 and the image forming apparatus 100 is closer when the strength ofthe radio wave received by the mobile terminal 130 is higher. Theoperation unit 307 is equipped with a liquid crystal display unit havinga touch panel function and a keyboard, and displays various operationscreens. A user inputs instructions and information into the mobileterminal 130 through the operation unit 307.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing configurations ofsoftware of the mobile terminal 130 and the image forming apparatus 100of FIG. 1 and schematically showing configurations of data managed bythe software. Each arrow of FIG. 5 represents the relationship between asource and a destination of a function call.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes as software a local UI 501, anHTTP server 502, a remote UI 503, an SMB/CIFS server 504, a documentmanagement service 506, an SNMP server 507, and an MIB 509.

The mobile terminal 130 includes as software a local UI 510, a webbrowser 511, a file management tool 513, and an MFP management tool 515.The local UI 510 displays on the operation unit 307 a user interfacewhich is operable by a user so as to provide the user with the functionsof the mobile terminal 130. For example, by using the user interfacedisplayed by the local UI 510, the user can confirm device informationof the image forming apparatus 100 contained in the radio wave receivedfrom the image forming apparatus 100 through the BLE communication unit308. The web browser 511 is equipped with an HTTP client 512 as afunction for communicating with the HTTP server 502 of the image formingapparatus 100. The file management tool 513 is equipped with an SMB/CIFSclient 514 as a function for communicating with the SMB/CIFS server 504of the image forming apparatus 100. The MFP management tool 515 isequipped with an SNMP client 516 as a function for accessing the MIB 509through the SNMP server 507 of the image forming apparatus 100.

On the image forming apparatus 100, the local UI 501 displays on theoperation unit 211 a user interface which is operable by the user so asto provide the user with the functions of the image forming apparatus100. The HTTP server 502 calls the remote UI 503, based on a requestfrom the web browser 511 of the mobile terminal 130. The remote UI 503provides a user interface written in HTML to the HTTP server 502 for theuser operating the web browser 511 of the mobile terminal 130. Further,the HTTP server 502 transmits the HTML obtained from the remote UI 503to the web browser 511 as a response to the request from the web browser511 of the mobile terminal 130. The SMB/CIFS server 504 is equipped withan NTLM authentication processing part 505 which processes an NTLM(Windows NT LAN Manager) authentication protocol. The SMB/CIFS server504 calls the document management service 506 upon receiving, from thefile management tool 513 of the mobile terminal 130, a request forbrowsing or saving files or other processes. The document managementservice 506 performs browsing and updating of electric documents (fileshaving an extension PDF, JPEG, PNG, DOC, or the like) stored in the HDD204, saving a new file in the HDD 204, and other processes. The SNMPserver 507 is equipped with a USM authentication processing part 508which performs a user authentication protocol defined by USM (User-basedSecurity Model) of SNMP version 3. Further, upon receiving an accessfrom the SNMP client 516 of the mobile terminal 130, the SNMP server 507references and sets data stored in the MIB 509.

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are flowcharts showing procedures of an imageforming apparatus determination process performed on the mobile terminal130 of FIG. 3. The process of FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B is realized by the CPU301 reading out and executing a program stored in the RAM 303.

With reference to FIG. 6A, first, the CPU 301 causes the BLEcommunication unit 308 to start BLE wireless communication to startsearching for a connectible image forming apparatus (step S601). If theBLE communication unit 308 receives a radio wave from at least one of aplurality of image forming apparatuses, the CPU 301 records a strengthof the received radio wave in the RAM 303 (step S602). Next, the CPU 301determines whether the strength of the radio wave received in step S602is greater than a previously set predetermined value (step S603). Thepredetermined value is −60 dBm, for example. If the result of thedetermination in step S603 shows that the strength of the received radiowave is not greater than the predetermined value (step S603: NO), theprocess returns to step S602. On the other hand, if the result of thedetermination in step S603 shows that the strength of the received radiowave is greater than the predetermined value (step S603: YES), the CPU301 determines whether the number of the radio waves received by the BLEcommunication unit 308 is one (step S604).

If the result of the determination in step S604 shows that the number ofthe received radio waves is one (step S604: YES), the CPU 301 determinesas a connection candidate the image forming apparatus sending the radiowave (step S605) and advances the process to step S616 to be describedlater. On the other hand, the result of the determination in step S604shows that the number of the received radio waves is greater than one(step S604: NO), the CPU 301 displays device names of the image formingapparatuses on the operation unit 307, based on information contained inthe plurality of received radio waves (step S606). The device names ofthe image forming apparatuses are displayed on the operation unit 307,as a list, for example, a list 700 shown in FIG. 7.

Subsequently, the CPU 301 displays, for the user, a message 701 (FIG. 7)on the operation unit 307 (step S607). The message 701 prompts the userto select, from the list 700, the image forming apparatus to whichconnection is intended, or to bring the mobile terminal 130 closer tothe image forming apparatus to which connection is intended (to move themobile terminal 130 toward the image forming apparatus). It should benoted that by the user moving to the image forming apparatus to whichconnection is intended and holding the mobile terminal 130 over theimage forming apparatus, the mobile terminal 130 is brought closer tothe image forming apparatus to which connection is intended. Then, theCPU 301 determines whether an image forming apparatus is selected, bythe user, from the list 700 displayed on the operation unit 307 of themobile terminal 130 (step S608). The determination is made based on anaction of the user tapping any one of the device names of the imageforming apparatuses displayed in the list 700. It should be noted thatin order to help the user select an image forming apparatus, it is alsopossible to display not only the device names shown in FIG. 7 but alsothe strengths of the radio waves, alongside the device names as shown inthe list 800 of FIG. 8. Further, it is also possible to highlight thedevice name of the image forming apparatus which is most likely to beselected (whose radio wave is strongest) by using a different font or adifferent font size.

If the result of the determination in step S608 shows that the devicename of one image forming apparatus is selected from the list 700 (stepS608: YES), the CPU 301 determines the selected image forming apparatusas the connection candidate (step S609). Then, the CPU 310 advances theprocess to step S616. On the other hand, if the result of thedetermination in step S608 shows that an image forming apparatus is notselected from the list 700 (step S608: NO), the CPU 301 determineswhether the mobile terminal 130 is brought, by the user, closer to theimage forming apparatus to which connection is intended (step S610). Itshould be noted that steps S601 to S609 are performed before the userbrings the mobile terminal 130 closer to the image forming apparatus towhich connection is intended. Specifically, the recording of thestrengths of the radio waves received in step S602 and the displaying ofthe list of the device names of the image forming apparatuses in stepS607 are both performed before the mobile terminal 130 is brought closerto the image forming apparatus to which connection is intended.

If the result of the determination in step S610 shows that the mobileterminal 130 is brought closer to the image forming apparatus to whichconnection is intended (step S610: YES), the CPU 301 receives the radiowaves again from connectible image forming apparatuses by using the BLEcommunication unit 308. Further, the CPU 301 records the strengths ofthe received radio waves in the RAM 303 (step S611). Specifically, theCPU 301 records the strengths of the radio waves received after themobile terminal 130 is brought closer to the image forming apparatus towhich connection is intended (after the user moves). On the other hand,if the mobile terminal 130 is not brought closer to the image formingapparatus to which connection is intended (step S610: NO), the processreturns to step S602. It should be noted that in step S610, based onwhether the strength of at least one radio wave has changed, it isdetermined whether the mobile terminal 130 is brought closer to theimage forming apparatus to which connection is intended. Next, the CPU301 determines whether one of the strengths of the radio waves receivedin step S611 is greater than the strengths of the other radio waves by apredetermined amount (step S612). The predetermined amount is 20 dBm,for example.

If the result of the determination in step S612 shows that the strengthof one radio wave is greater than the strengths of the other radio wavesby the predetermined amount (step S612: YES), the CPU 301 determines asa connection candidate the image forming apparatus sending the one radiowave (step S613). Subsequently, the CPU 301 advances the process to stepS616. On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step S612shows that there is no radio wave whose strength is greater than theother radio waves by the predetermined amount (step S612: NO), the CPU301 compares the amounts of change in strength of the received waveswith each other. Specifically, the CPU 301 calculates the amounts ofchange between the strengths of the radio waves recorded in step S602and the strengths of the radio waves recorded in step S611, and thencompares the amounts of change with each other (step S614). Here, theamounts of change correspond to the amounts of change in radio wavestrength from when the list of the device names of the image formingapparatuses is displayed to when the user moves to the image formingapparatus to which connection is intended.

Further, based on the comparison in step S614, the CPU 301 determines asa connection candidate the image forming apparatus sending the radiowave having the largest amount of change in strength of the calculatedamounts of change in strength (step S615), and the CPU 301 advances theprocess to step S616. Then, in step S616, the CPU 301 makes a connectionto the image forming apparatus determined as the connection candidate bythe radio system using Wi-Fi, and then finishes this process. It shouldbe noted that it is also possible that steps S612 and S613 are skippedafter performing step S611 and that the following steps S614 to S616 areperformed.

By the above-described process of FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, in the case thatradio waves are received from a plurality of image forming apparatuses,the image forming apparatus as the connection candidate is determinedbased on the amounts of change in strength recorded in step S602 andstep S611. Therefore, the user does not necessarily need to select fromthe list 700 the image forming apparatus to which connection isintended. Further, the image forming apparatus as the connectioncandidate is determined based on the amounts of change in strength ofthe radio waves between when the list of the device names of the imageforming apparatuses is displayed as the list 700 and when the mobileterminal 130 is brought closer to the image forming apparatus to whichconnection is intended (the period from step S602 to step S611).Specifically, the image forming apparatus sending the radio wave havingthe largest amount of change in strength is determined as the connectioncandidate. Because the user gets closest to the image forming apparatusto which connection is intended, the amount of change in strength of theradio wave sent from the image forming apparatus to which connection isintended is the largest compared with the amounts of change in strengthof the radio waves sent from the other image forming apparatus. Thus,the intention of the user is reflected on the amount of change of theradio wave, and as a result, the intension of the user can be reflectedto the determination of the image forming apparatus as the connectioncandidate. As a result, it can be easy to perform pairing with theintended image forming apparatus.

It should be noted that in the present embodiment, it is also possibleto estimate the distances between the image forming apparatuses and themobile terminal device, from the amounts of radio wave change instrength. Specifically, it is determined that the image formingapparatus having the largest amount of change in radio wave strength isthe closest image forming apparatus. This method makes it easy todetermine the closest image forming apparatus.

Further, in the present embodiment, it is possible to determine theimage forming apparatus to which connection is intended not only by theuser bringing the mobile terminal 130 close to the image formingapparatus in response to the display of the message 701 but also byselecting an image forming apparatus from the list 700. This method canincrease the number of the methods of determining the image formingapparatus as the connection candidate and can thus improve users'convenience.

Further, in the present embodiment, it is also possible to highlight, inthe list 700, the information on the image forming apparatus sending theradio wave having the strongest strength. By this display, it is easyfor users to specify the closest image forming apparatus.

In the first embodiment, the image forming apparatus sending the radiowave having the largest amount of change in strength is determined asthe connection candidate. In contrast to that arrangement, in the secondembodiment, the image forming apparatus as the connection candidate isdetermined based on the difference between the amounts of change instrength of the radio wave sent from each of the image formingapparatuses. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the sameparts as in the above first embodiment are assigned the same referencesymbols and will not be described again, and only points different fromthose in the above first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are flowcharts showing procedures of another imageforming apparatus determination process performed on the mobile terminal130 of FIG. 3.

With reference to FIG. 9A, the CPU 301 determines whether the differencebetween the largest and next (second) largest amounts of change in radiowave strength in the comparison in step S614 is larger than apredetermined amount (step S901). The predetermined amount is 10 dBm,for example. If the result of the determination in step S901 shows thatthe largest amount of change in radio wave strength is larger than thesecond largest amount of change in radio wave strength by thepredetermined amount (step S901: YES), the CPU 301 advances the processto step S902. In step S902, the CPU 301 determines as the connectioncandidate the image forming apparatus sending the radio wavecorresponding to the largest amount of change in strength of radio wave.Then, the CPU 301 advances the process to step S616. On the other hand,if the result of the determination in step S901 shows that thedifference between the largest and second largest amounts of change inradio wave strength is smaller than the predetermined amount (step S901:NO), the CPU 301 advances the process to step S903. In step S903, theCPU 301 displays, on the operation unit 307, a message saying that theimage forming apparatus as the connection candidate was not found. Thus,the CPU 301 returns the process to step S602.

According to the above-described process of FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B, in thecase that the largest amount of change in radio wave strength is largerthan the second largest amount of change in radio wave strength by thepredetermined amount, the image forming apparatus sending the radio wavecorresponding to the largest amount of change in radio wave strength isdetermined as the connection candidate. Therefore, even in aninstallation environment in which a plurality of image formingapparatuses are closely disposed in such a manner that there are aplurality of radio waves having similar amounts of change in strength,it is possible to perform pairing with an image forming apparatus onlyif there is a sufficient amount of change in strength. With thisarrangement, for example, it is surely prevented that a connection ismistakenly made with an image forming apparatus to which connection isnot intended and which is adjacent to the image forming apparatus towhich connection is intended.

In the first and second embodiments, at the time when the mobileterminal 130 gets connected to the image forming apparatus 100, it isnot confirmed to the user whether the connection is approved. Incontrast to that arrangement, in the third embodiment, a confirmation tothe user is made. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, thesame parts as in the above first and second embodiments are assigned thesame reference symbols and will not be described again, and only thepoints different from those in the above first and second embodimentswill be described.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing procedures in a case that a connectionconfirmation message is displayed in an image forming apparatusdetermination process performed by the mobile terminal 130.

With reference to FIG. 10, the CPU 301 first determines the imageforming apparatus as the connection candidate by performing steps S601to S615 in FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B or steps S601 to S614 and S901 to S903 inFIG. 9A and FIG. 9B (step S1001). Then, the CPU 301 determines whetherto display a connection confirmation message 1101 (FIG. 11) on theoperation unit 307 to confirm whether it is acceptable to connect to theimage forming apparatus as the connection candidate determined in stepS1001 (step S1002). It is previously set by the user on the mobileterminal 130 whether the connection confirmation message 1101 isdisplayed. If the result of the determination in step S1002 shows thatthe connection confirmation message 1101 is to be displayed (step S1002:YES), the CPU 301 displays the connection confirmation message 1101 onthe operation unit 307 and advances the process to step S1003. On theother hand, if the connection confirmation message 1101 is not to bedisplayed (step S1002: NO), a connection is made to the image formingapparatus as the connection candidate determined in step S1001 (stepS1005), and the present process is finished. Then, in step S1003, theCPU 301 determines whether an OK button is selected by the user on theconnection confirmation message 1101. If the result of the determinationin step S1003 shows that the OK button is selected (step S1003: YES),the CPU 301 makes a connection to the image forming apparatus as theconnection candidate (step S1005), and then the present process isfinished. On the other hand, if the result of the determination in stepS1003 shows that the OK button is not selected (a cancel button isselected) (step S1003: NO), the CPU 301 returns the process to step S602in FIG. 6A. Then, the CPU 301 records the strengths of the receivedradio waves in the RAM 303 (step S1004), and then the process isfinished.

According to the above-described process of FIG. 10, before connectingto the image forming apparatus which is previously determined as theconnection candidate, the connection confirmation message 1101 isdisplayed, on the operation unit 307, to ask the user for a confirmationabout the connection to the image forming apparatus. By this method, itis prevented to mistakenly connect to the image forming apparatus towhich connection is not intended.

Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by acomputer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computerexecutable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on astorage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/orthat includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or moreof the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by thecomputer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out andexecuting the computer executable instructions from the storage mediumto perform the functions of one or more of the above-describedembodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). Thecomputer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processingunit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network ofseparate computers or separate processors to read out and execute thecomputer executable instructions. The computer executable instructionsmay be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or thestorage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or moreof a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM),a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as acompact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™),a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent structures andfunctions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Applications No.2015-214567, filed Oct. 30, 2015 which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile terminal comprising: a communicator thatreceives a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio wave; a memory device thatstores a program; and at least one processor that executes the programto: search for a plurality of image forming apparatuses to be displayedin a list, based on an intensity of the BLE radio wave received by thecommunicator from each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses anda first predetermined value; display a screen containing both the listof the plurality of image forming apparatuses of which the intensity ofthe BLE radio wave received by the communicator from each of theplurality of image forming apparatuses is greater than the firstpredetermined value and a prompting message that prompts to a user ofthe mobile terminal to bring the mobile terminal closer to an imageforming apparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatusesdisplayed in the list; specify, based on (i) an intensity of the BLEradio wave further received by the communicator from each of theplurality of image forming apparatuses while displaying the screencontaining both the list and the prompting message and (ii) a secondpredetermined value being different from the first predetermined value,one image forming apparatus, to which the mobile terminal has beenbrought closer than when the list was first displayed and which has beenlocated within a predetermined distance from the mobile terminal, fromthe plurality of image forming apparatuses contained in the list,without receiving, from the user prompted by the prompting message, anyoperation through the screen displaying the list; and connect to thespecified one image forming apparatus.
 2. The mobile terminal accordingto claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal receives the BLE radio wave fromeach of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, and the at least oneprocessor executes the program to specify, based on an amount of changein radio wave strength of each of the received BLE radio waves, the oneimage forming apparatus to which the mobile terminal has been broughtcloser.
 3. The mobile terminal according to claim 2, wherein the atleast one processor executes the program to specify, as the one imageforming apparatus to which the mobile terminal has been brought closer,an image forming apparatus of which the amount of change in radio wavestrength is largest.
 4. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,wherein in a case where a user selects one image forming apparatus fromthe plurality of image forming apparatuses displayed in the list, the atleast one processor executes the program to connect to the image formingapparatus selected by the user.
 5. The mobile terminal according toclaim 1, wherein when a plurality of image forming apparatuses are foundby the search, the at least one processor executes the program todisplay the list, and when one image forming apparatus is found by thesearch, the at least one processor executes the program to connect tothe found image forming apparatus without displaying the list.
 6. Themobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein when a radio wave strengthof the BLE radio wave received by the mobile terminal from an imageforming apparatus is greater than a predetermined radio wave strength,the at least one processor executes the program to display the imageforming apparatus in the list.
 7. The mobile terminal according to claim1, wherein the at least one processor executes the program to search foran image forming apparatus by using BLE communication.
 8. The mobileterminal according to claim 1, wherein a device name of an image formingapparatus is displayed in the list.
 9. The mobile terminal according toclaim 1, wherein a radio wave strength of the BLE radio wave received bythe mobile terminal from an image forming apparatus is displayed in thelist.
 10. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein: in a casewhere the intensity of the further received BLE radio wave from anyimage forming apparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatusesis greater, by at least a threshold amount, than intensities of thefurther received BLE radio waves from all remaining image formingapparatuses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the mobileterminal specifies and connects to the any image forming apparatus amongthe plurality of image forming apparatuses, and in a case where theintensity of the further received BLE radio wave from any image formingapparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatuses is notgreater, by at least the threshold amount, than the intensities of thefurther received BLE radio waves from all remaining image formingapparatuses of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the mobileterminal specifies and connects to an image forming apparatus based onan amount of change in radio wave strength that is determined using thefurther received BLE radio waves.
 11. A control method for a mobileterminal having a communicator that receives a Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE) radio wave, comprising: searching for a plurality of image formingapparatuses to be displayed in a list, based on an intensity of the BLEradio wave received by the communicator from each of the plurality ofthe image forming apparatuses; displaying, after the searching, a screencontaining both a prompting message that prompts a user of the mobileterminal to bring the mobile terminal closer to an image formingapparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatuses and the listof the plurality of image forming apparatuses obtained by the searching;specifying, based on an intensity of the BLE radio wave further receivedby the communicator from at least one of the image forming apparatuseswhile displaying the screen including the list, one image formingapparatus to which the mobile terminal has been brought closer than whenthe list was first displayed and which has been located within apredetermined distance from the mobile terminal, from the plurality ofimage forming apparatuses contained in the list, without receiving, fromthe user prompted by the prompting message, any operation through thelist being displayed; and connecting to the specified one image formingapparatus.
 12. The control method according to claim 11, wherein the BLEradio waves are received from the plurality of image formingapparatuses, and in the specifying, the one image forming apparatus towhich the mobile terminal has been brought closer is specified based onamounts of change in radio wave strength of the received BLE radiowaves.
 13. The control method according to claim 12, wherein in thespecifying, an image forming apparatus of which the amount of change inradio wave strength is largest is determined as the one image formingapparatus to which the mobile terminal has been brought closer.
 14. Thecontrol method according to claim 11, wherein in a case where one imageforming apparatus is selected by a user from the plurality of imageforming apparatuses displayed in the list, a connection is made to theimage forming apparatus selected by the user.
 15. The control methodaccording to claim 11, wherein when a plurality of image formingapparatuses are found in the searching, the list is displayed, and whenone image forming apparatus is found in the searching, a connection ismade to the found image forming apparatus without displaying the list.16. The control method according to claim 11, wherein in the displaying,when a radio wave strength of the BLE radio wave received by the mobileterminal from an image forming apparatus is greater than a predeterminedradio wave strength, the image forming apparatus is displayed in thelist.
 17. The control method according to claim 11, wherein in thesearching, BLE communication is used to search for an image formingapparatus.
 18. The control method according to claim 11, wherein in thelist, a device name of an image forming apparatus is displayed.
 19. Thecontrol method according to claim 11, wherein in the list, a radio wavestrength of the BLE radio wave received by the mobile terminal from animage forming apparatus is displayed.
 20. A control method for a mobileterminal that performs a wireless communication according to a firstwireless communication standard and a wireless communication accordingto a second wireless communication standard, the control methodcomprising: receiving a wireless signal of the first wirelesscommunication standard from each of a plurality of image formingapparatuses; measuring and storing an intensity of the received wirelesssignal of the first wireless communication standard for each of theplurality of image forming apparatuses; receiving again a wirelesssignal of the first wireless communication standard from each of theplurality of image forming apparatuses and measuring an intensity of thereceived-again wireless signal of the first wireless communicationstandard; and selecting one image forming apparatus, as an image formingapparatus for communicating with the mobile terminal according to thesecond wireless communication standard, from among the plurality ofimage forming apparatuses based on the measured and stored intensity ofthe received wireless signal of the first wireless communicationstandard for each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses and themeasured intensity of the received-again wireless signal of the firstwireless communication standard for each of the plurality of imageforming apparatuses.
 21. The control method according to claim 20,wherein the selecting includes: calculating a difference between themeasured intensity of the received-again wireless signal and themeasured and stored intensity of the received wireless signal for eachof the plurality of image forming apparatuses; and selecting the oneimage forming apparatus for which the calculated difference of intensityof the wireless signals is the greatest among the plurality of imageforming apparatuses, based on the difference calculated for each of theplurality of image forming apparatuses.
 22. The control method accordingto claim 20, further comprising: displaying a screen that includes bothof a list of names of the plurality of image forming apparatuses and amessage to prompt a user to bring the mobile terminal closer to an imageforming apparatus, according to a reception of the wireless signal ofthe first wireless communication standard.
 23. The control methodaccording to claim 22, wherein the displayed screen includes indicatorsthat respectively indicate the intensities of the wireless signals ofthe first wireless communication received from the plurality of imageforming apparatuses.
 24. The control method according to claim 20,wherein the first wireless communication standard is BLE (Bluetooth LowEnergy), and the second wireless communication standard is WiFi.
 25. Thecontrol method according to claim 20, wherein, for each of the pluralityof image forming apparatuses, the measuring of the intensity of thereceived wireless signal measures the intensity of the received wirelesssignal of the first wireless communication standard based on thereceived wireless signal of the first wireless communication standard.